what i really need to do
is get a dog and name him teddy roosevelt
and sing him john lennon songs
and teach him to stomach gin

what i really need to do
is learn how to play piano
and sing songs about cigarette smoke
and lie about having a twin  

what i really need to do
is find someone who calls themselves petunia
and bend low and scoop them up
and teach her to stomach gin

what i really need to to do
is learn how to play guitar
and sing songs about her knuckles
and the delicate shine of her shins

what i really need to do
is shoot dice with old black men
and hang out in alleyways
and wallow in filth and bathe in sin

what i really need to do
is learn how to play the harmonica
and sell ******* to rich white girls
and not feel a **** thing about it

what i really need to do
is find someone who calls themselves best friend
and bend low and scoop them up
and teach him to stomach gin

finishing a book
is just like
killing a christian family
on a drunk Sunday drive

finishing a book
is just like
slamming your clean-shaven face
into a brick wall

finishing a book
is just like
inhaling pure oxygen
and then spontaneously combusting
into thin air

finishing a book
is just like
brushing your teeth so hard
that crimson paste drips from
the corners of your mouth

finishing a book
is just like
watching a toddler bathe
himself in lighter fluid

finishing a book
is just like
puking when you're passed out.

All I want to do
is finish this half-eaten cheeseburger
I found in the parking lot at work.
It can't be more than a day old.

All I want to do
is smoke the last of that man's cigarette
I just watched him put it out
and I'm really getting desperate.

All I want to do
is have *** in the backseat of your sportscar
because I know we would fog it up quickly
and no one could see me kiss your neck.

All I want to do
is smoke the rest of this garbage ****
so I can get a headache to
get rid of this headache.
Not to mention these
bone dry blues.

All I want to do
is finish this bottle of bourbon
just between the two of us
So then I can watch
your face melt into the sunset and we
can both do things that
We'll live to regret.

We can both do things.
We can both live.

I am lonely.
I am a moldy and forgotten
sandwich rotting in the corner of your fridge.
My ham is slimy and my lettuce droops.
My tomato oozes.

And you know nothing about it.

I am lonely.
I am a gnarled and frayed
left slipper hiding in the dark under your bed.
My stitches have been ripped open by dogs
but I was once a part of your favorite pair.
My sole is bare.

And you know nothing about me.

I am lonely.
I am a necklace I bought you in
the spring of last year.
I remember when you wore me out
almost every day and night.
Now I am kept out of sight and
Out of mind.

And you know nothing about me.
And you don't know where I am.
And you don't know what I'm close to.
And you don't know where that smell is coming from.

I was there
when they built the cathedrals
I was there
and I watched them stand tall
I was there
for the villagers' upheaval
I was there
and I answered their call

I was there
when they fought in ancient Rome
I was there
and I watched poor men die far from home
I was there
when we ate just like kings
I was there
and I fed you a grape
I was there
when they sold you into slavery
I was there
and I helped you escape

I was there
when ****** built an army
I was there
when Stalin rose to fame
I was there
in the Jewish death camps
I was there
and I forgot my own name

I was there
I was a pickpocket in London
I was there
when Dickens wrote the Twist
I was there
when it happened, all the sudden
I was there
and I raised up my fist

I was there
with Daniel and the lions
I was there
when he went down to that cave
It had
nothing to do with a God up in heaven
It had
something to do with the knowledge he craved.